Inside The Body Positive World Of Plus-Size Porn

If you believe what people say, no one watches porn – how demeaning to women! How exploitative! – but the numbers tell a very different story.

Last year online pornography site Pornhub alone had 28.5 billion visitors, an average of 81 million every single day.

In my professional life as a sexologist, I have become somewhere of an expert in porn and I while I don’t deny some material is damaging for women, I do feel it’s also important to show other elements that are actually doing just the opposite.

What, porn that is uplifting women? Yes. One good example being BBW porn (big beautiful women), or as some people call it, plus-size porn.

The Big Beautiful Women changing the industry

Busty Cookie (her porn name) is a three-time award winning international BBW porn star, photographer and producer from the UK.

Busty is part of a fast-growing type of porn, Big Beautiful Woman porn. Photo: SuppliedSource:Whimn

“There are a lot of people out there who think porn is negative but don’t understand the body diversity that is shown,” Cookie says.

“Body diversity is important as a lot of people watching porn want to see something other than thin women with fake boobs.

“Most companies are coming away from the silicone look and embracing the girl next door image even if it’s a chubby girl.”

Between 2013 and 2015 there Pornhub reported a 47% increase in people searching for BBW porn.

BBW is also currently within the top 5 searches on ManyVids at any given time.

It’s hardly surprising if you think about it – plus-size models are a big deal in the fashion world. Why not represent this in porn too?

Real women promoting real women

Busty, a size 20 with natural 33HH breasts, has also worked for more mainstream companies, including Playboy. She says BBW material is about more than dress sizes – it’s about promoting real women.

“BBW is porn performed by bigger-sized all-natural women and a sexy celebration of the fuller figure,” she says. “To be considered a BBW you need to have some fat of course, a beautiful face and natural assets.

“Big boob size can vary depending on height and weight, though I would say size 16+ would be considered BBW.”

So, who is watching?

And it’s not just one type of person who desires a bigger woman having sex on screen.

“All kinds of men are into it but a lot of fitness men. I often find that men who look after their bodies usually like a chubby woman deep down. I guess we’re considered more approachable.

“Men are likely to meet a BBW at their local watering hole/work that maybe they fantasise about. There are of course ‘undercover BBW lovers’; men that won’t be seen with a bigger girl but will happily watch the porn.”

Eliza Allure, an American pornographic BBW actress agrees.

Eliza Allure is another BBW star. Photo: SuppliedSource:Whimn

“I have met a lot of my fans and they are men from all different backgrounds,” she says. “They are lawyers, builders and stock brokers. Everyone can appreciate beauty. It’s whether it’s socially acceptable to admit it to their friends.”

It’s not all good times and rainbows

“People might think we smell and we are lazy because we’re fat, and that we’re not as sexy,” Busty says. “Hygiene is always of utmost importance for any performer, and being able to perform is the most important thing for us.”

Like any other porn star, BBW performers have to have a certain level of physical fitness to successfully do their jobs.

“BBW porn stars still need to be able to perform and we do all the positions just the same as our thinner counterparts and we also do performances like stripping & ‘Babe’ style shows on TV,” Busty says.

“I have been doing this with slimmer women and worked the same hours of time. I’m big but most of us are physically fit, and yes we even workout.”

Eliza adds: “When you talk about health, I have friends who are skinny and who smoke, do drugs and don’t eat healthy. You don’t know my health just by my weight. If we are just going to judge value, worth and beauty on health, think of how a disabled person might feel if we are telling them they have no worth because they are not healthy.

“They are also desirable. There are a lot of fat people who are not healthy but who are still beautiful. Beauty has nothing to do with health in my opinion.”

Blazing a new trail

Many mainstream adult entertainment providers have been slow to embrace BBW porn, forcing performers to go out on their own.

Busty Cookie in all her glory. Photo: SuppliedSource:Whimn

“Most mainstream companies don’t shoot BBW porn, and we have to push for it ourselves,” Busty says.

“We have a few BBW companies but mostly women are paving their own way using platforms like ManyVids, Clips4Sale and of course their own personal websites. Which for me makes these women even more empowered, not only showing a difference in body shape but also showing that they can be in charge professionally too.”

The darker side

But while body positivity is a big part of BBW porn, there’s a darker side too – where men with feeding fetishes pay to indulge their fantasies with BBW performers.

“On cam sites I get paid to eat a cake or someone will pay to come feed me in person,” Eliza says. “They just watch me eat. It’s not about the sex, it’s about wanting to make me large. “When it comes to feeding (a fetish where someone feeds another in the attempt to make them large) the man wants to provide. They want you to lay in bed. They want you to get so fat you don’t have to move and they have to cater to your every need.”

Why we should celebrate BBW stars

I understand we can’t transform the entire adult industry into one that is completely positive for women, but it is important to shine some light on the fact that there is body diversity in the porn world too.

If we can celebrate curves down the runway, why not celebrate curves sexually as well? After all, what’s sexy is not just one stock standard thing, and we now have the downloads to prove it.